Thousands of human hours of handmade frame-by-frame precision proves that diverting resources to artists (rather than data centers) also leads to miraculous results. A world record breaker at over 2 hours of 24-frames-per-minute stop-motion animation, Wildwood is Laika's masterpiece. It's in a league of its own 1-for-1 rarity alongside Loving Vincent as a monument for the artform. Similarly to that film, though, I'm less won by the story. Wildwood is perhaps a perfect adaptation of a perfectly fine young adult book. It's rich with themes of family, bravery, unity, agency, and more, but it ironically does not aim beyond the safe confines of traditional forest folkloric fantasy narrative. Maybe if I had the local Portland connection it finds novelty in, I'd find something fresh, but for me, this is a storytelling step down from, heck, really every Laika film to date, each of which challenges in its own way. Wildwood is epic & it must be seen, but it's only as an experience unto itself.